usatvline Chapter 1975 Pen
Chapter 1975 Pen
Chapter 1975 Pen
“Alright, I will secretly investigate the situation,” Zhao Shuli said. “A lot of people have been arrested recently on Jisifeier Road. I will secretly find out more about it.”
“If Comrade Zhang Yingzhuo is arrested, he will use the alias Pan Qingyu and his identity will be the owner of the Huxi Xiaofang Tea Shop,” Comrade Yi Jun said.
As he spoke, he took out a notebook, opened it, picked out a one-inch photo, and handed it to Zhao Shuli, saying, "This is Comrade Zhang Yingzhuo."
Zhao Shuli examined the photo carefully, memorized the person's appearance, and then returned the photo to Comrade Yi Jun.
"I will do my best to find out Comrade Zhang Yingzhuo's whereabouts," Zhao Shuli said.
"Be extra careful."
"I can spare it."
……
The Shanghai Military Police, West Huxi Branch Station.
"Major, as you instructed, I didn't give Cheng Qianfan a friendly look at today's welcome banquet," Hattori Shinji reported to Yokoyama Akima.
"What was Cheng Qianfan's reaction?" Yokoyama Akima asked without looking up as he carefully examined the pen in his hand.
“You can tell Cheng Qianfan is unhappy, but he’s very restrained,” Hattori Shinji said.
He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Major, isn't Cheng Qianfan always close to the Empire? And I know he also works for Wang Tianhai's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nanjing."
“You don’t need to worry about these things,” Yokoyama Akima said in a deep voice. “In short, your job in the Special Police Department is to try to gain as much control as possible over the Special Police Department, and at the very least, to be able to check and balance Cheng Qianfan.”
"Hai."
……
"Are you confident?" Akima Yokoyama asked.
“Half of the personnel in the Special Police Unit are former members of the Central Police Station. These people are all Cheng Qianfan’s old subordinates, which gives him a natural voice in the Special Police Unit,” Hattori Shinji pondered. “However, the situation is different now than in the French Concession. I have the Empire behind me, and I am confident that I can outmaneuver Cheng Qianfan.”
"Don't be blindly arrogant," said Yokoyama Akima. "Cheng Qianfan is good at building relationships. He has close ties with some people on the Empire's side and with the Military Police. If you have a conflict with Cheng Qianfan, you won't even be able to get the level of support you expect within the Military Police."
Following instructions from Umezumi Sagami, he did not reveal Cheng Qianfan's identity as an imperial agent to Shinji Hattori.
The considerations are very direct and simple, so that Hattori Shinji can avoid Hattori Shinji's natural closeness and initial trust in Cheng Qianfan at the first level.
"What?!" Hattori Shinji exclaimed in surprise, "Cheng Qianfan, a Chinese man, he actually..."
“Of course, with me and Lieutenant Colonel at the Military Police, you don’t need to worry too much,” Yokoyama Akima reassured Hattori Shinji.
"Hai."
……
Yokoyama Akima waved his hand, and Hattori Shinji withdrew.
He examined the pen in his hand carefully, even using a magnifying glass to examine it under the light, but found nothing unusual.
"Oda, come here for a second." Yokoyama Akira opened the door and called out.
Soon, Hideto Oda arrived.
"Major."
"Take a look and see if there's anything unusual about this pen?" Akima Yokoyama handed the pen to Hideto Oda.
Hideto Oda carefully examined the fountain pen. He even asked Akima Yokoyama for a piece of paper, wrote dozens of words with the pen, and finally unscrewed the pen to examine it thoroughly.
“The ink flow of the pen is not very good, and the writing is splintered,” said Hideto Oda. “The grip area of the pen is quite worn, which means it is used frequently. However, the exterior of the pen is well maintained, which means that the user takes good care of it.”
“Apart from that, we found nothing unusual about the pen,” Hideto Oda said. “There were no engravings or other marks that could be suspected of being there, and upon visual inspection, we found nothing that could be considered to have any special markings.”
……
“But the person who was arrested yesterday tried to throw away this pen immediately,” Akima Yokoyama said.
“Then it’s possible that there’s something wrong with this pen,” said Hideto Oda, frowning as he pondered.
He asked Yokoyama Akima, "Major, is the person you're talking about Pan Qingyu from the Huxi Xiaofang Tea Shop?"
"You know this person?" Akima Yokoyama looked at Hideto Oda with some surprise and asked.
“I’ve been to this teahouse before,” said Oda Hideto. “I’ve met this Pan Qingyu a few times.”
"Oh?" Yokoyama Akima became interested. "Tell me your impression of this Pan Qingyu."
“A typical merchant’s image,” Hideto Oda said after thinking for a moment. “He treats customers politely, speaks with a smile, and even greets some difficult customers with a bad attitude with a smile…”
After a pause, Hideto Oda continued, "In short, this person fits my stereotype of Chinese small business owners."
"What was your first reaction when you heard that Pan Qingyu had been arrested?" Yokoyama Akima asked.
“Shocked,” Hideto Oda said. “Then two thoughts came to mind.”
"Which two reactions?" Akima Yokoyama asked, looking quite interested.
"Our first thought was that we had arrested the wrong person; this was just an honest and law-abiding tea shop owner," said Oda Hideto.
"Anything else?" Akima Yokoyama asked.
"My second reaction was that this person was incredibly well-hidden; he even fooled me," said Hideto Oda.
……
"Which reaction do you prefer?" Akima Yokoyama asked.
“We cannot draw any more precise or biased conclusions.” Hideto Oda shook his head and said, “I have not accessed the relevant files, nor do I know if we have discovered any clues, so I cannot make any further judgments.”
He told Akima Yokoyama, "Most importantly, I don't know why this person came into our view or why we decided to take action to arrest him. That's the key factor."
"You have five minutes." Akima Yokoyama handed the files on the table to Hideto Oda and said, "You can ask me any questions in five minutes."
"Hai."
……
"Major, I've finished reading it." Hideto Oda put down the file in his hand and said to Akima Yokoyama.
"Is there anything you want to ask?" Akima Yokoyama lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and asked Hideto Oda.
"Who is this Zheng Ming?" Oda Hideto asked. "Although his name only appears once in the case file, he is very important. He was the one who directly identified the waiter named Xishun at the Xiaofang Tea Shop."
“Zheng Ming is an agent we planted within the Red Party,” said Yokoyama Akima. He glanced at Oda Hideto and said, “I understand what you want to ask. Zheng Ming doesn’t know Pan Qingyu. He only met a guy named Xishun by chance and knew that he was an outsider of the Red Party’s underground party.”
“I understand.” Oda Hideto nodded. “Then there’s something I’m curious about. Since you discovered that one of the tea shop’s employees was a member of the Red Party, why didn’t you continue to monitor the tea shop instead of directly arresting the tea shop owner, Pan Qingyu?”
“It was a stupid guy who made the mistake,” Yokoyama Akima said angrily. “Now we have to pay the price for that stupid guy’s mistake.”
He was furious, or rather, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
The Ono Squad of the Huxi Branch of the Military Police was responsible for monitoring the small tea shop. Hijikata Ichiro of the Ono Squad was discovered by Pan Qingyu while following Kishun.
This fool actually led a group to secretly arrest Pan Qingyu.
When Yokoyama Akima later learned of this, he was furious and almost slapped Hijikata Juichiro's face to pieces.
"So, a mistaken arrest led to the arrest of Pan Qingyu," Oda Hideto said thoughtfully. "Major, what about Xi Shun? I don't have any further records about him in the case file."
“When Hijikata Juichiro was following Kishun, Pan Qingyu noticed and captured him. But somehow Kishun didn’t find out about it,” Yokoyama Akima said.
When they were arresting people, Xi Shun happened to be moving things into the warehouse. When he came out, he found that the shopkeeper who was waiting for him at the door was gone. He probably subconsciously thought that the shopkeeper had gone back to the tea shop first.
……
"Major," Hideto Oda said, "Pan Qingyu is probably the one with the problem."
He said to Yokoyama Akima, "Hijikata Juichiro's order to arrest people was foolish. However, I know this person. His ability to act, including his tracking ability, is quite competent. Under such circumstances, the fact that Pan Qingyu was able to discover that Hijikata Juichiro was following him shows that this person is not simple."
Akima Yokoyama nodded slightly, signaling Hideto Oda to continue.
“However, apart from that, it seems we don’t have any other evidence that this person is problematic,” Hideto Oda said.
“Yes.” Akima Yokoyama nodded. “That’s why I’m studying the items that were taken from Pan Qingyu.”
“Pan Qingyu tried to secretly discard the pen, but we found it and retrieved it in time,” he told Oda Hideto.
Hideto Oda examined the pen carefully again. He gave a helpless wry smile and said to Akima Yokoyama, "Major, I have examined and studied it carefully, and I really haven't found any problems."
He thought for a moment and said to Akima Yokoyama, "Perhaps this pen is just an ordinary pen, and outsiders can't see anything unusual about it. However, to those involved, this pen is unusual."
"You mean, this pen might be a token for the rendezvous?" Akima Yokoyama understood what Hideto Oda meant.
"It seems that this is the most likely possibility right now," Hideto Oda said thoughtfully.
“If that’s the case, unless Pan Qingyu speaks up, this pen is practically useless to us,” Yokoyama Akima said, frowning.
"Major, did we torture Pan Qingyu?" Oda Hideto asked.
“They started to torture him yesterday after the arrest, and they should still be doing so at this time.” Yokoyama Akima took out his pocket watch, checked the time, and said, “It was Ide Yuriyoshi who personally tortured this man.”
“Ide Yuriyoshi is our best torture expert.” Oda Hideto was astonished. “We’ve been torturing him for a whole day and night, and he still hasn’t spoken?”
“He just cried out that he was innocent and begged us to let him out, without saying anything else,” said Akima Yokoyama.
……
“I’m quite interested in this Manager Pan now,” Oda Hideto said with a smile.
"Then, I'll leave the interrogation of this person, as well as the subsequent investigation and arrest, to you," Yokoyama Akima said happily.
He had a hunch that Pan Qingyu's identity was definitely not simple; this person might be a big fish.
Hidetoshi Oda is his most capable subordinate, and he has never let Hidetoshi Oda down when he takes action.
"I hope I won't disappoint the Major," Hideto Oda said with a slight smile.
"Where do you plan to start your investigation?" Akima Yokoyama asked curiously.
“I need to meet with two people first,” said Hideto Oda.
……
Hideto Oda met Pan Qingyu first.
Shanghai Military Police West Branch, Interrogation Room No. 1.
Hideto Oda saw Pan Qingyu being tortured.
This person was covered in blood and gore; the continuous torture over a day and a night had left this suspected Communist Party member unrecognizable.
Hideto Oda took a deep breath. He liked the acrid smell of the red-hot branding irons on prisoners' bodies after torture. This smell fascinated him, just like the feeling when he was a child and caught cats and dogs, pierced their bodies with sticks and roasted them alive over a fire.
“Criminal records,” Hideto Oda said.
He took the torture record and looked at it carefully.
This document contains detailed records of the torture inflicted on prisoners, including the exact time of the torture, the prisoner's reaction, and what they said, even if it was just pleading for mercy or experiencing physiological incontinence due to torture.
After just a quick glance, Hideto Oda frowned and shook his head.
……
"Continue the torture." Oda Hideto did not ask any questions, nor did he exchange any words with Pan Qingyu.
He was a person who cherished his time and energy very much, and just by reading the interrogation records, he knew that this suspected member of the Communist Party was an extremely tough nut to crack.
Moreover, judging from this person's mere 'reaction' of begging for mercy, this is a Red Party member with rich experience in infiltration and struggle. He doesn't expect to get anything out of this person; at the very least, a few simple questions won't have any effect.
Of course, torture should still be used when necessary. What if the person's tolerance threshold is breached at some point and they suddenly can't take it anymore and start talking?
Although experience told him that the possibility was extremely small, what if there was a chance of success?
At worst, even if this person is tortured to death, it would still be considered as providing experimental consumables for the empire's torture program.
……
The second person Hideto Oda wanted to meet was Hijikata Juichiro.
"Why did you make the hasty decision to arrest them?" Oda Hideto asked Hijikata Juichiro.
“My intuition tells me that I have to take action and arrest them,” Hijikata Juichiro said.
"Why do you say that?" Hideto Oda asked.
“That person spotted me. My intuition told me that this was an extremely difficult opponent. If I hadn’t arrested him then, he would have escaped without hesitation, and this lead would have been completely cut off,” Hijikata Juichiro said.
Hideto Oda asked a few more questions.
Hijikata Juichiro answered each question.
“Your choice is correct. Arresting Pan Qingyu is not a foolish or reckless act,” said Hideto Oda. “I will explain this to Major Yokoyama.”
Hijikata Juichiro was overjoyed and expressed his gratitude to Oda Hideto through tears, saying, "Thank you so much! I knew Captain Oda would be able to get justice for me."
"Pan Qingyu tried to throw away the pen, but you found it and picked it up?" Oda Hideto asked.
“Yes, Captain Oda,” Hijikata Juichiro nodded and said.
"How did you find the fountain pen?" Hideto Oda asked, a thought suddenly occurring to him.
P.S.: Please subscribe, give a reward, vote for me with monthly tickets, and recommend me with your votes. Thank you!
Please subscribe, please tip, please vote with monthly tickets, please recommend. Thank you.
(End of this chapter)